You're a Marauder After All
by Moony245
Summary: I didn't know much what being a Marauder meant. I knew that we were supposed to be cool and pull pranks and everyone liked you, but that couldn't have been all there was to it. After fighting at the Department of Mysteries, Remus learns what it means to be a Marauder.


_**Hi everyone. I was watching OotP recently, and this is something that came into my head. I hope you like it!**_

"C'mon Lupin," a voice called down the hall, "we just wanna talk. Can't you just wait for a minute?"

I was no Dumbledore, but I over the course of my year and a half at Hogwarts, I had learned that when James Potter and Sirius Black tell you they want to talk, it's better if you just keep walking. I continued my quick pace down the corridor, my head pointed to the floor.

"Will you just hold up?" a second high voice cried. I felt someone grab my shoulder and turn me around. Sirius was gazed intently at me with his intense gray eyes. He looked my old, and patched uniform up and down as though I was some product he was told to inspect. It made me uncomfortable, and I shifted awkwardly.

James' tall figure made his way toward us, stopping just short of me. "Finally," his high-pitched twelve-year-old voice sighed, "I was beginning to think we were going to have to Stun you to get you to stop," he joked. He and Sirius laughed wholeheartedly, but I just stared at each of them in a daze.

"What d'you want?" I asked impatiently.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sirius countered.

I motioned to the classroom off the hall. "I have History of Magic soon."

Hearty guffaws resounded between the two other boys. "History of Magic?" Sirius repeated with a laugh, "Is Professor Binns really that interesting that you have to sprint to his class?"

I remained silent.

"You wouldn't know," James returned, "considering you haven't gone to that class since the first week of First Year." Sirius shrugged.

I tried to push my way past them and into the classroom. "I really do have to—"

"Hold on there," James interrupted, pushing me back into their circle, "we said we wanted to talk to you."

"And you have," I retorted, "and now I have class." I tried to push my way between them, but this time Sirius held me back.

"Meet us in the common room after everyone's gone to bed," he told me quietly. "We have something to tell you."

With that, they turned around and headed back down the hall, leaving me feeling as though I had to prepare myself for whatever it was they needed to tell me.

-oOoOoO-

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I had fought in the First Wizarding War, had fought numerous Death Eaters, and escaped death countless times, but it never gets easier.

Death Eaters loomed in around us, prowling out of every imaginable corner of the room. I could see Sirius dueling Lucius near the seemingly empty archway that stood a few feet above my head. Mad-Eye was locked in combat with Antonin Dolohov, their spells dancing off the stone walls. High up on the steps, Tonks was battling Bellatrix, and their duel became increasingly heated as their multicolored casts reflected off the ceiling.

I fired a Stunning spell at a small redheaded Death Eater, sending him flying backwards. A silver jet passed just above my head, and I wheeled around just in time to see Neville Stun my attacker.

I wheeled around just in time to see Tonks' body roll down the stone steps, and Bellatrix cackling evilly as the young witch continued her descent.

I fired a Stunning Spell, missing Bellatrix's left side by mere inches. She gave me a taunting smile and disappeared with a barely audible pop.

Tonks' body now lay at my feet. I kneeled down, trying to determine if she was alright. I released a breath I hadn't known I had been holding when I could hear slow puffs of breath escaping her mouth and nose.

I glanced up and saw the many jets of light that illuminated and colored the room. Lucius and Sirius were still locked in a duel, but Harry was now firing spells at the Death Eater from below the cover of a very large rock.

I couldn't make out any other faces through the lights that scattered the space. I ran further into the center of the room, finding Neville once again Stunning another Death Eater.

"You have to get out of here," I yelled over the bangs of duels.

He turned to look at Harry, who was still aiming spells at Lucius from below the archway.

"I'll get him," I instructed. "You go." Neville nodded and began making his way up the stairs and to the exit.

I ran over to where Harry was crouched beneath the rocks. Just before I reached him, I heard a shrill voice shout "_Avada Kedavra_!" Those two words made my heart sink.

My eyes shot upward to see a bright jet of light stream from the end of Bellatrix's wand. The curse hit Sirius square in the chest.

I could almost see his eyes begin to glaze over. He fell backwards and into the archway, though I knew that he would not emerge on the other side. The fighting stopped, and several of the Death Eaters began to Apparate out of the Ministry, but I didn't notice.

I knew he was gone. Sirius Black was gone. He and I were the last of the Marauders, but now he was gone. I could feel my world come crashing down. Two words. Two words was all it took.

-oOoOoO-

I could feel my world come crashing down. Two words. Two words was all it took. "We know," they had said.

"I d-dunno what you mean," I stuttered lamely.

"We know why you go to Madame Pomfrey once a month and where you go once you get to the Hospital Wing," James explained through the darkness. I could barely make out glasses in the dim light that my illuminated wand tip offered, but I could see the urgency and excitement in his face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, praying that they were mistaken.

"We know you go to the Whomping Willow," Sirius began, "and we know why you go there."

"What?" I started again. A fourth year boy passed us, rolling his eyes sleepily as he crossed the room.

James leaned in and finished with a quiet, "We know about your 'furry little problem'."

That did it. Now I was certain that the ground was moving beneath my feet. They knew. They knew everything. The room looked like it was spinning. They knew what I was. They knew I was dangerous, and they had the power to tell other people. I would be forced to leave Hogwarts now that they knew. Everyone would be afraid to go to school with someone like me. Then there was the trouble it would cause Dumbledore once others found out….I could feel myself begin to hyperventilate.

"Calm down there, mate," Sirius interrupted my hysterics.

"Please don't tell anyone," I begged.

Sirius and James chuckled quietly to themselves. "We won't tell anyone," James started.

"Why would we do that?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "We just happened to come across the knowledge that someone at our school is a dangerous werewolf. Who would possibly need to know that?" he finished with an impish grin.

I shushed him as the fourth year boy passed us again with another roll of his eyes.

"Besides," James began, "now you'll be able to help us with some great pranking."

"Me?" I asked, pointing to myself in disbelief.

"Sure," Sirius reassured. "You can be a bit of a know-it-all sometimes, but you seem alright," he added jokingly.

I couldn't believe it. James and Sirius were two of the most popular, well-liked (by the students anyways) boys in our year. And now they were asking me to help them, to be their friend.

I was a shy, small, scrawny boy. I wasn't anything like them, and yet they had asked me to help them, to be their friend. How in the world was I going to do this?

-oOoOoO-

I wasn't sure how I was going to get through this. I held Harry back, his pained yells reverberating off the stone walls.

"No!" Harry screamed as I pulled him away from the archway. "He's just on the other side! You see! He'll come through. He has to come through."

He kept struggling against my grip, but I kept pulling him back harder. I wanted so badly to believe that he was right. That Sirius would walk around the arch at any moment with a huge grin on his face as if this was all some joke, but I knew that no matter how much Sirius' laughing eyes were still burned into my mind's eye, he was gone.

Harry yelled again. His scream echoed through my whole body, breaking all my resolve with a pang. He struggled more, but I held him back.

"You have to stay back," I begged, my voice cracking as I struggled to pull Harry back farther. "He's gone, Harry," I continued though the words tasted like poison coming out of my mouth. "You have to stay back."

He wriggled in an attempt to free himself. Tears started to fall out of his eyes and onto the hard floor.

My whole body ached. Sirius was gone. He and I were the last of the Marauders, the last of our boyhood friends, but now he was dead, and I was the sole survivor. I felt like everything inside me had sunk through the floor, leaving only a pained shell behind.

Harry screamed again, and I knew he mirrored what I felt. Sirius was the only one Harry had left, the only family he had ever known, and now he was gone. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. We were both alone now.

Harry finally broke free of my grasp, and he hurried from the room. My body was too exhausted to follow after him; all I could do was watch his figure retreat up the stairs and out the door.

I knew Harry would need someone, and some instinct inside me told me that that someone was me. He had lost James and Lily, and now he had lost Sirius. They couldn't watch over him anymore; it would be my responsibility now.

We had sworn that we would all look after each other while we were in school. If they couldn't protect Harry, I was going to make sure that I would. I was a Marauder, and I understood now what that meant.

-oOoOoO-

I didn't know much what being a Marauder meant. I knew that we were supposed to be cool and pull pranks and everyone liked you, but that couldn't have been all there was to it.

I had been talking to James and Sirius for about a week, and they still hadn't pushed me away. We were still friends (as far as I knew), and things were going more or less smoothly.

They had told me that there was something that I needed to do that night, but they wouldn't tell me what it was. It sounded like some kind of initiation or something, and I have to admit that I was a bit nervous as I walked down the steps to the fifth floor at around midnight.

When I reached the farthest corridor, I found James and Sirius sniggering to each other in the center of the hallway.

"Well there he is," James greeted cheerily. I yawned in response.

"I heard there was something you needed from me," I asked, tired.

James and Sirius exchanged mischievous grins. The boys moved to the side, revealing several cages of pixies. They struggled and flew nervously around the cages as high pitched screeches echoed down the hall.

"Release them," Sirius instructed. I gave him a puzzled look as he peered around a corner, "on Filch," he added with a smirk.

I could feel myself gasp. "That's as good as suicide!" I argued.

James chuckled. "C'mon Lupin," he urged. "Have some fun for once." He patted me on the back, forcing me forward.

I took one hesitant step toward the pixies and glanced back at James and Sirius. I was met with their insistent looks.

I crouched down and picked up a cage in either hand. I walked reluctantly down the corridor and peered around the corner. I could see Filch's shadow encroaching further and further into the lamplight.

"Well, go on," Sirius instructed.

I groaned as Filch's figure came into full view.

"Hey!" he screeched once he saw me. "What're you doin'—" he was cut off, for that instant, around twenty pixies covered his head. He swat furiously as they grabbed fistfuls of his hair and squawked in his ears.

I ran back around the corner, James and Sirius following me as I sprinted out into the Grand Staircase and up to the seventh floor.

We were all out of breath once we reached the Gryffindor common room. We glanced at each other in exhaustion before Sirius suddenly broke out into hearty laughter. James soon followed suit, and before long, the two of them were laughing so hard, they were clutching their sides.

I stared at them both quizzically. I had just released pixies on Filch. This was _not_ funny; it was terrifying! Filch had seen me and surely we would all be in huge trouble.

I didn't need trouble. I was on thin enough ice as it was. I certainly didn't need Filch yelling at me too.

Sirius' gray eyes met mine. His eyes were wet with tears of laughter. "It's alright, Remus," James started reassuringly. "We've done that loads of times," he explained with another laugh. "It gets funnier every time." He continued laughing to himself while I remained staring at the floor.

"Aw, lighten up a bit, Moony," Sirius encouraged. "No one will think less of you. You're a Marauder after all."

I let a small chuckle escape my lips. Moony the Marauder—I liked the sound of that.

_**Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. Please leave a Review with your thoughts! They make me incredibly happy :)**_


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